Understanding fertility trends in Britain: Do fertility intentions differ across England, Wales and

In sum, it is likely that a small part of the difference in fertility rates between England and Wales and Scotland is due to higher rates of international migration to England and Wales. [...] The introduction of the new-style question in 1991 reduced by more than half the proportion of women giving an uncertain response and the answers provide a more nuanced understanding of the ambiguity of fertility intentions with many women reporting “probably yes” and “probably no”. [...] 3.3 TO WHAT EXTENT ARE CROSS-NATIONAL DIFFERENCES EXPLAINED BY POPULATION COMPOSITION? In this section we ask whether the differences in fertility intentions found between the countries of Britain are explained by differences in the population composition of the countries. [...] In general the fertility rates of the UK born second generation are closer to the UK average than the fertility of contemporary immigrants from the same ethnic group, suggesting evidence of 16 assimilation (Dubuc, 2012). [...] Thus we cannot explain the more positive fertility intentions of women living in England as being mostly the result of increased levels of international migration, or the higher number of the descendants of migrants living in England.